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Hi Omar,
Good to see you back! http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...lins/smile.gif I've got a bottle of Dickle's Number 12 and I really like it. I have never noticed the "off" flavors that so many have commented on. Possibly I got lucky and bought a bottle that had been on the shelf for awhile. I would be cautious to replace what I have given the consensus here though.
Bob
Interesting.....I've heard absolutely nothing about this locally (Tullahoma is about 35 miles away). But this is most welcome news Omar...thanks!
LOL...I might have to give that a try......http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...lins/drink.gifQuote:
"If people try it, they'll like it and become a customer," Quick said as he sipped his favorite -- Dickel mixed with SunDrop citrus soda.
-Troy http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...lins/toast.gif
I love GD #12 myself, in part because it is one of those rare bottles in NC that is priced appropriately (i.e. anywhere from $12-15, depending on specials).
I haven't opened a new bottle since 2000 or so, but its damn good once you get used to the charcoal.
,
Tonight I am pouring the last of this infamous bottle of GD12. This is still the strangest tasting whiskey I have ever sampled. I have added splash of water tonight and this seems to have mellowed out some of the stronger vitamin notes, though the earthy sod taste is still present. The one good thing I can say about this whiskey is how very smooth it is. No burn or harshness whatsoever. I will now leave George Dickel #12 to those who can appreciate its qualities, as this is probably the last drink I will ever have. Au Revoir.
Bid good riddance, if you ask me, Jeff. Stick to the real thing--BOURBON--and leave Jack and George in their charcoal haze!
just had to add a note...that when Tom had a wicked sinus infection last winter...he didn't like any of his bourbon. To the point of getting rather depressed about it, and wondering if it was the water or the glassware or the soap, or how he was storing the bottles. A month and some clear sinuses later...everything tasted fine. Just wanted to let you know that on the sickness related to taste/smell/finish front...you aren't alone.
There is something different about Tennessee whiskey. I'd have thought the upfront soaking in charcoal would impart an "advance" smokiness, but that isn't really the case. It gives another quality to the whiskey, one hard to pin down. It is a good mixing whiskey (e.g. with Coke) but on its own, except in the best versions (Jack Single Barrel) I find the taste not as good as most Bourbon. I find Gentleman Jack has that non-Bourbon character in abundance; after all, it submits to charcoal leaching twice. Maybe perfumy is the right word. There seems too an astringency associated with the Tennessee style, although maybe it is because they are all sold (except one of the Dickel's) at relatively young ages. Speaking of age and Tennessee, in Michael Jackson's (1987) World Guide To Whisky, there is a picture of a bottle of Jack Daniel's, clearly pre-Prohibition, of which the label states the age as 21 years. Now that would be an interesting shot of whiskey to get down.
Gary
Word choice is everything, so one man's "mellowing" is another's "leaching." That's the word Kentucky whiskey-makers use to describe the Lincoln County Process, "leaching." I further characterize it as an aging shortcut. The whiskey has a lot of contact with char but no contact with the red layer that underlies the char in a barrel. Char will eliminate or transform certain congeners but it doesn't add any flavor. That comes from the other wood components that are present in a barrel but not in a stack of hardwood charcoal.
Kentucky whiskey-makers assert, and I agree, that the charcoal leaching process reduces harshness but at the cost of flavor. It generally produces whiskey that is inoffensive but bland. This quality, which some people characterize as "smoothness," accounts for the popularity of the Tennessee Whiskeys as well as Canadian whisky. The Canadians do it, not through leaching, but through high distillation proof and blending.
I enjoyed this, excellent and trenchant.
Gary
>The whiskey has a lot of contact with char but no contact with the red
>layer that underlies the char in a barrel. Char will eliminate or transform
>certain congeners but it doesn't add any flavor. That comes from the other wood
>components that are present in a barrel but not in a stack of hardwood
>charcoal.
I've never been to a distillery in Tennessee, and I know very little about
the specifics of the Lincoln County process, but it seems to me that if
you're going to go to the trouble of using "sugar maple", then you should
make sure to leave some "red layer" at the heart of each piece of charcoal.
Or at least *some* of the charcoal.
Tim Dellinger